School Spotlight
Ferris State University
Speech Code Rating
Use of Grounds Policy
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: February 16, 2022General Rules for All Grounds Users • User must comply with appropriate submission deadlines and must have a copy of the approved form in their possession during activity. … Rules for Registered Student Organizations (RSOs): • Must follow all University policies, Federal, State or Local laws, as well as, the G... Read MorePosting and Quad Sign Policy
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Posting and Distribution Policies
Last updated: February 16, 2022Registered Student Organizations and Campus Departments ONLY 1. Complete the Campus Posting and Quad Sign form in Bulldog Connect. 2. An approved Posting and Quad Sign registration allows these groups to post on CSI designated bulletin boards, RSO mailboxes, Residence Halls, and to place signs on the Quad. … 6... Read MoreCode of Student Community Standards: General Residence Hall & East Campus Suite Policies
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Policies on Tolerance, Respect, and Civility
Last updated: January 20, 2022In order to meet the educational and social needs of students, the University has established a set of community standards for each residence community. These standards are based upon four (4) fundamental rights of all University Housing students: … Be free of fear from intimidation and physical or emotional h... Read MoreEmployee Dignity/Harassment/Discrimination: Sec. 8-701. Employee and Student Dignity.
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: January 20, 2022The University expects all students and employees to conduct themselves with dignity and respect for students, employees and others. It is each individual’s responsibility to behave in a civil manner and to make responsible choices about the manner in which they conduct themselves. … Racial harassment in... Read MoreCode of Student Community Standards: Harassment
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: January 20, 2022Behavior that creates a hostile or intimidating environment in which verbal or physical conduct, because of its severity or persistence, is likely to unreasonably interfere with an individual’s work environment, education environment, or environment for participation in a University activities. Read MoreCode of Student Community Standards: Individual Misconduct On or Off University Property-
Speech Code Rating: Yellow
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: January 20, 2022Sexual Harassment: Is conduct on the basis of sex that constitutes Quid Pro Quo Sexual Harassment, Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment, Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, or Stalking. … b. Hostile Environment: A hostile environment from sexual harassment exists when unwelcome conduct, determ... Read MoreFreedom of Speech on Campus Policy
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: January 20, 2022The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the government – including governmental entities such as state universities like Ferris State – from interfering with freedom of speech. The University recognizes the value of this and will safeguard individual’s constitutional rights.... Read MoreCode of Student Community Standards: Student Rights and Responsibilities
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Advertised Commitments to Free Expression
Last updated: January 20, 2022Each Ferris State University student has the right to the following: … All the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States and the State of Michigan. … Ferris State University, like all academic institutions, exists for the advancement of knowledge, the pursuit of truth, the devel... Read MoreCode of Student Community Standards: Freedom on the Campus and Uniform Regulations of Campus Activity/Facility
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: January 20, 20221. The University may place reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on campus activity/facility use to the extent the restrictions are not based on the content of the presentation, are narrowly tailored to serve a significant institutional interest, and leave open ample alternative channels of communication.... Read MoreRegistered Student Organization Handbook: Use of Grounds Guidelines
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Protest and Demonstration Policies
Last updated: January 20, 2022All registered student organizations (RSOs), departments and individuals using designated outdoor spaces on the campus must not violate University policies, Federal, State or Local laws. This includes, but is not limited to: … defamation, fighting words, and/or obscenity. Read MoreSexual Harassment Policy and Related Title IX Grievance Process
Speech Code Rating: Green
Speech Code Category: Harassment Policies
Last updated: January 20, 2022“Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment” is unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person access to the University’s education programs and activities. Read More
Ferris State University: Professor Suspended and Investigated for Video Jokingly Referring to Students as ‘Cocksuckers’ and ‘Vectors of Disease’
January 17, 2022
On January 9, 2022, Ferris State Professor Barry Mehler sent his students an introductory video welcoming them to class in which he discusses plagiarism by adapting a profanity-laced monologue from the television show “Deadwood,” jokes that students’ grades are predetermined by God, and encourages students to attend lectures virtually because of COVID-19. The video quickly… Read more
REPORT: Ferris State professor suspended for referring to students as ‘cocksuckers,’ ‘vectors of disease’ in satirical monologue settles with university for $95,000
August 3, 2022
Records obtained by the Associated Press reveal that Barry Mehler, the professor at Ferris State University in Michigan suspended for a profanity-laced introductory video during which he jokingly referred to students as “cocksuckers” and “vectors of disease,” settled with the university in March for $95,000. In January, when the university suspended Mehler for the video,… Read more
REPORT: Great Fakes? Michigan colleges routinely fail to protect free speech on campus
March 29, 2022
Michigan may be known for its Great Lakes, but a new report from FIRE suggests that its universities’ free speech promises don’t hold much water. “State of the Speech Codes: Michigan” examines the speech codes — policies that regulate student expression that would be protected by the First Amendment in society at large — on… Read more
Suspension over profanity-laced video highlights unconstitutional policy at Ferris State
February 9, 2022
By now, you’ve probably heard of Ferris State University professor Barry Mehler, whose tongue-in-cheek introductory video to students — which jokes that grades are predetermined by God and calls students “vectors of disease” — has been viewed on YouTube over half a million times. (Not bad for a syllabus week introduction!) But you may not have seen… Read more
Lawsuit: Professor suspended for profanity-laced video sues Ferris State
January 26, 2022
Ferris State University history professor Barry Mehler, suspended from teaching over a tongue-in-cheek online class intro that went viral because it was peppered with vulgarities, filed a lawsuit yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. (The complaint, exhibits, and filings are collected here.) The veteran professor alleges the university’s subsequent… Read more
SAVE FERRIS PROF: Before it suspended tenured professor over profane syllabus skit, Ferris State praised it
January 20, 2022
This week, Ferris State University suspended tenured professor Barry Mehler after an out-of-context clip of an introductory class video went viral. In the clip, he wears a “space helmet,” uses profanity to parody a scene from the often-profane television show “Deadwood,” and says that students’ grades were predetermined under the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. Mehler’s… Read more
Ferris State cannot punish professor for comedic — and now viral — video jokingly referring to students as ‘cocksuckers’ and ‘vectors of disease’
January 17, 2022
A professor at Ferris State University finally made the notoriously boring syllabus week entertaining. The university’s response? Put the professor on leave and open an investigation. Ferris State professor Barry Mehler sent the students in each of his five history classes an introductory video welcoming them to his class in an anything-but-ordinary way. In the… Read more